CSU protester's trial set to start in Long Beach

LONG BEACH - A jury trial is set to begin this week in the case of a 20-year-old man accused of breaking a glass door during a chaotic protest at the Cal State University Chancellor's Office in Long Beach last fall.

Seth Newmeyer, a 20-year-old UCLA undergraduate student, has pleaded not guilty to charges of misdemeanor vandalism and failure to disperse following a student protest at a CSU Board of Trustees meeting.

Jury selection is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. today in Department 1 in Long Beach Superior Court.

Newmeyer, who is affiliated with Occupy UCLA, was one of more than 100 demonstrators who showed up at a CSU board meeting on Nov. 16 to protest a planned 9 percent hike in student tuition.

The peaceful demonstration turned violent when campus police forced dozens of people out of the building for disrupting the meeting and then attempted to subdue the angry crowd by using pepper spray.

Protesters pounded on the building's glass front doors until one of the doors shattered, cutting a campus police officer's arm. CSU officials have said the door cost more than $32,000 to replace.

Newmeyer was one of four students arrested that day. Police identified him as the main instigator and the person responsible for shattering the glass door.

His case was brought to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office for felony criminal charges, but prosecutors tossed it out due to lack of evidence.

The Long Beach City Prosecutor, however, has determined there is enough evidence to file misdemeanor charges of vandalism and failure to disperse.

Newmeyer has said he believes he's been unfairly targeted by campus police and the CSU administration.

A YouTube video of the protest shows Newmeyer - wearing a large panda hat - pounding on the glass front door along with several other protesters, but then stepping away seconds before it shatters.

"I pleaded not guilty because I think it's important for people to stand up for their rights when they're being persecuted," he told the Press-Telegram in March. "I'm not guilty and I have the ability to prove it."